Hotel Carnalifornia Ch. 02

Here is the next installment of Lora's adventures. It picks up where the first chapter left off.

Nthusiastic, I tried to contact you about beta reading - if you are still interested, I would love to take you up on that offer. :) Also, Aandi from California, I received your message forwarded via Literotica. I'm not ignoring you - I tried to respond, but the email address provided bounced my reply.

To the anonymous complainer - None of my female characters will fall prey to a man just because he gives her an orgasm. My women are smarter and stronger than that, my men capable of actual character development. If you're looking for magical dick syndrome, you will need to find another writer. There are thousands of stories on the site in which the women fall for the men for no discernible reason other than he shoves his dick into her.

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On with the story:

Pain sparked bright lights in Lora's mind. Her body spasmed out of control. The threadbare carpet of the hotel lobby rushed up as her legs collapsed beneath her and she landed awkwardly on her backpack.

The hunchbacked form standing over her held a black stick aimed in her direction.

He'd... he'd electrocuted her. She ordered her body to obey. To form a fist. Kick out. Do something. Her arm lifted off the floor. Not the one she was looking at, but the other one. Still, she wanted to cheer as one of her limbs moved.

Lightning forked from the end of the black stick and struck her, making her body go haywire again.

Stars burst in her head, scrambling all her thoughts. Her arm fell, and she lay curled in a trembling ball at the man's feet.

With blurry vision, she watched the hunchback holster his cattle prod. What else could it be? Was he wearing a white lab coat? Maybe she was hallucinating. He moved around her. Rough hands pushed her into a sitting position, then hooked under her arms from behind and pulled her across the floor in fits and starts.

Her head lolled and bobbled on her neck as he lugged her up the staircase one step at a time. She didn't have time to be captured again! All at once, the fogginess and trembling disappeared. Thinking and movement returned, and she wrenched herself out of her captor's grip, rolling painfully down the stairs.

The hunchback darted after her, pulling that stun stick free. She rolled to her feet and dodged, aiming for the front door. Just as her hand landed on the knob, he pushed the stick against her back, sending electricity through her.

She collapsed on her front this time. Her chin thudded into the floor, adding to her pain. The jolt lasted longer this time, seeming to go on forever, until, mercifully, blackness took her.

When consciousness returned, he was still dragging her upstairs. How long had she been out? How many stairs were there in this place? He must be taking her up the tower.

Rather than fight, Lora threw back her head and screamed as loud as she could. Maybe she could attract others, and while the hunchback was using his damned cattle prod on someone else, that would be the opportunity she needed to escape.

"Stop it," the hunchback hissed. "Do you want to get us killed?"

"I'm entertaining thoughts of killing you." No one was coming. Why were there no psychos around when she needed one?

More lightning struck, her body bowing away from the press of that cattle prod.

She hadn't even fought him this time. So... not... fair...

He lifted the stun stick and pressed it to her neck. The pain returned — worse this time — and blackness took her.

Lora woke with a throbbing head, fuzzy mouth, and nauseous stomach — all without the benefit of having had a fun time and a lot of booze first. That sort of hangover felt different. Disoriented, she tried to sit up. Halfway, dizziness made her stomach change location to her throat and threaten to move out completely.

She fell back with a groan and tried to take stock of her situation. Her body hurt, like she'd run a marathon. Or taken a beating. But all her bits were accounted for, and she was in one piece. That was good.

Every muscle burned, shook with fine tremors, and ignored her commands to move. That was not good.

What happened to her?

She'd come looking for Eve. The haunted hotel. The vampire. Then what?

Blinking, she squinted at the water-stained ceiling like that would help focus her attention. The blobs changed shape as the light from the sconce high on the wall flickered.

Not helping with the queasiness.

The lobby. The names in the book.

Then pain and falling.

A hunchbacked man wearing a white coat looming over her.

Blackness fading in and out. Her body bumping up the stairs as the strange man dragged her.

Lora patted her hands over herself.

Still dressed. That was good.

Her fingers drifted over a cotton ball taped to the inside of her arm. Had they injected her with something, or taken blood from her? That was not good.

Not tied up. That was good.

She cast a bleary gaze around. A lumpy, musty, thin mattress on the floor in one corner of an otherwise empty room provided her bed. That was not good.

No windows. One door with a simple knob and keyhole.

Stone walls and floor.

She was a prisoner. No point in pretending this wasn't a dungeon.

That lock would be easy enough to pick if she had her things. Where was her backpack?

Almost painful tingling started in her fingers and toes, like her limbs had fallen asleep and were waking up. That was different than the tremors. Lora turned her head to look at her hand and told her fingers to move.

They twitched, as did her toes.

Control was coming back to her. She just had to hope it returned before her captor. And that she could get that stun gun thing away from him before he used it on her again.

Lora froze as footsteps echoed outside her cell. She wasn't near ready to fight again. Closing her eyes, she feigned sleep as a key rattled in the lock and the doorknob turned.

"This is disappointing, Igor," a man's conversational voice spoke in accented English.

He sounded Italian. Maybe German. Normally she had an ear for accents because of all her traveling, but her befuddled brain couldn't tell.

"The specimen is in no condition for experiments," the Italian, or maybe German, man lectured. "You know I wanted baseline numbers during the day when the compulsion wasn't present. How high did you set the stunner?"

She was the specimen? That sounded ominous.

"I used the lowest setting, Master. She's resilient, and kept waking up on the way here. I had to shock her several times. She was making noise on the fifth floor."

"Oh. Yes. I see the need for subduing the specimen there. Make sure you note in the chart the voltage and number of shocks you administered, and in the future, try to refrain from repeated shocks so close in interval when there are other ways of subduing the test subjects." A sigh. "What is the weather forecast?"

"Thunderstorm this evening, Master."

"Excellent. I suppose I can put off my other work for a day or two. Monitor this specimen. When she wakes, prepare her. Give her a stimulant if necessary, and put her in the main room. She gets the full battery of tests. As long as we have to wait, get the woman something to eat. I don't want the numbers skewed because hunger or low blood sugar is affecting the results."

"Yes. Master."

The door closed, and the lock clicked.

What other work? Full battery of tests? The thunderstorm sent a sinking sensation through her. She'd seen this movie, and did not want to wake up as anyone's bride, or with a permanent case of bad hair days.

Lora lay still, breathing through the tingling sensations as they worked their way up her arms and legs.

When the key unlocked the door, she kept up her sleeping ruse.

"I know you're awake. None of the other stuns kept you unconscious as long as this. I have some food for you. Soup and a sandwich. There's water to drink too. I also have the stunner, so stay where you are, and you can eat."

He wasn't supposed to use the stun stick on her anymore, but she wasn't completely recovered yet. Better to wait for the right moment and choose her battles. Her stomach rumbled. When was the last time she'd eaten? Before she came here, so at least a full day. "All right. I won't move."

The hunchbacked assistant entered carrying a tray. He set it down on the floor and she got her first good look at him as he backed away. His posture twisted to one side, giving her the impression he was short. His face grimaced as he moved, like he was in pain. Lank brown hair flopped over his forehead and into his eyes, but when she met his gaze, she didn't see cruelty in him. There was pity and warmth.

Lora ignored the spoon and picked up the soup, gulping it straight from the bowl. Who cared about manners in this place? Chicken noodle had never tasted so good.

She searched for that Other World part of herself and sent tendrils of her magic out. She didn't have to move to use the power of suggestion she had taken from the vampire. But no lust came back to her. Igor didn't feel anything for her, except there was something faint. Something like empathy that he buried under indifference. Her magic swarmed over him, but had nothing to latch onto. What else could she do? He was on the threshold, about to close the door.

Humanize yourself.

"My name is Lora. What's yours?" She picked up the sandwich and took a bite of roast beef and cheese.

Igor paused and narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do you want my name? Are you Fae?" He backed farther away. "That didn't show up in your blood work."

Lora swallowed. Whatever flavor of Other World she was apparently didn't show up in blood work, or he'd know. That was helpful. Maybe her abilities were only detectable when she used them. Lora shook her head, wishing again that her grandmother had been able to explain this mystery side of herself. "Wait! I'm just a girl caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Please. I only want to find my friend and get us out of here. Her name was in the book on the reception desk. Room 37. Eve. Have you seen her? Is she here?"

"I can't talk about other specimens." Igor glanced over his shoulder into the hallway. "The Doctor wouldn't like it. Eat your food. That's all you'll get until after the tests. You'll need your strength."

She was losing him. "Will you stay? We don't have to talk about the others. That other man is the Doctor, but I can see you're the one doing all the work. Seems like he just orders you around."

Igor shrugged and stepped into the room. "It doesn't matter. Until I pay off my schooling, I'm stuck."

"Like indentured servitude?"

"Worse." He shifted from foot to foot, pulling at a loose string on his white coat. "Student loans. They never go away. He pays them, and I have to pay him back."

"How much do you owe him?"

"It doesn't matter. With what he pays me. I'll be here for decades. It hardly touches the interest."

But if he escaped, what could the Doctor do to him? "Tell me about you. How did you come to be here?"

Before he answered, a wave of drowsiness came over her. The half-eaten sandwich fell from nerveless fingers as she collapsed to the mattress. An irrational sense of betrayal sent hot tears to her eyes. Why had she thought he was different? She was an idiot. "The food. You drugged the food." Chicken noodle was meant to be comforting!

"I'm sorry," he murmured. "It's not safe for me to shock you again. I shouldn't have used the stunner on you so many times as I did, but I can't delay him anymore and need to move you. The storm will start in a couple of hours."

Hands moved over her, tugging at her feet

He was stripping her.

Her body wasn't responding.

Again.

Lora fought to keep her eyes open, but lost the battle as the world dimmed.

Again.

A chill breeze brushed over her skin. Goosebumps rose over her flesh and she shivered. Her heart beat fast and she gasped.

Her bare skin.

She was naked this time. For the battery of tests.

Lora tried to sit up, but something around her neck kept her in place. A collar? She blinked. The world spun and made her want to throw up. She closed her eyes and concentrated on making a fist. Her fingers obeyed, but barely.

Rubber straps around her wrists held her arms out to her side.

Her legs were trapped too, spread, with bands around her thighs, knees, and ankles.

The room was huge. A large metal door led to what looked like a storage shed. Humming machinery, coils of metal, upright, bathtub-sized tubes of bubbling liquid, and computers took up all the wall space. Cables and pipes ran out of the vaulted ceiling, which consisted of glass panels that showed grey clouds gathering overhead, and a huge metal spire jutting into the sky.

No thunder or lightning yet. There was still time.

Igor sat in a chair in front of a terminal on a desk, typing on a keyboard.

The traitor.

Lora yanked at the rubber restraints. They didn't give. Was there any point in talking to Igor again? Probably not.

The Doctor entered and ran his eyes up and down her body dispassionately, assessing her like a commodity he was thinking about purchasing. Under a white lab coat, he wore a black suit, complete with vest and a chain that probably went to a pocket watch. Chin-length black hair parted in the middle to frame what would have been a handsome face with a square jaw and aquiline nose, except for the villain goatee and utterly emotionless grey eyes.

He didn't seem to like what he saw. Well, too bad. She didn't like him either.

Wheels squeaked across the floor as he sat on a low stool and rolled to her. "Good afternoon, Specimen..." He consulted his clipboard. "42. Do you know why you're here?"

"Because you and a bunch of weirdos decided trespassing deserves repeated rapes?"

He tutted. "You are here to further my experiments. I won't touch you other than as necessary to gather the information I need."

That didn't mean he wouldn't violate her. "Information for what?"

He consulted his clipboard, holding a pen at the ready. "Age?"

Now he wanted to take a survey. Lora huffed and stared at the ceiling. More dark clouds gathered in the sky.

"How many sexual partners?"

"How do you maintain your physique?"

"Why are you here?"

"How did you enter the property?"

"From where?"

On and on the questions went. She refused to answer any of them. What was he going to do to her? She'd already been electrocuted numerous times, and rape was inevitable. There was nothing in it for her to be cooperative. Finally he pushed to his feet and crossed to the desk where he set the clipboard on the wooden surface with a sharp thwack.

"The specimen is recalcitrant. We will move on to the next phase of the testing. Is everything ready?"

"Yes, Master."

The doctor returned to her, his hands full of electrodes that he applied to her chest and face. He teased a nipple erect and pinched. Something pinched harder and didn't relent, even when his hand moved to her other breast. She refused to look.

"Test the lowest setting."

"Yes, Master." Keys clicked as Igor typed.

Lora jumped as the clips on her nipples came to life, tightening and loosening, sending a mild surge of electricity through her.

The Doctor watched her breasts as her nipples hardened into taut peaks.

"Vary the settings. Leave them on random and make a record of the specimen's reactions to stimuli."

"Yes, Master."

The clamps bit hard and released her flesh in a rhythm she couldn't predict, offering pain, then pleasure, then more electricity. Her breasts felt hot, tight, and achy. Flutters twirled in her belly, a storm massing inside to match the one brewing overhead.

The Doctor just watched as her nipples grew too sore to enjoy any pleasure. She breathed through her nose and pressed her lips together in a flat line to stop herself making noise. He gripped her chin in a near-bruising grip and squeezed her jaw. "You'll need this. Open your mouth." Rubber straps dangled from his fingers.

Lora clenched her teeth and shook her head as much as she could within his grip. He dropped the straps on her chest and pinched her nose closed. She held her breath as she struggled, opening her lips but keeping her teeth gritted when she needed to breathe.

He closed his other hand over her mouth. She parted her teeth then, and bit him as hard as she could. The Doctor bellowed and reared back, lifting a hand.

She tilted her chin up, glaring defiantly.

"Set the pain level to maximum."

"Master?"

"Do it, Igor."

The clamps dug into her already sore nipples until a bead of blood slid down her breast and she couldn't hold in a scream.

In a flash, a rubber protrusion was lodged between her teeth, the straps fastened tightly behind her head. Her eyes watered with rage and pain. The pressure on her breasts eased. The Doctor removed several swabs from his lab coat pocket and unwrapped them to dab at the blood and tears.

"Adjust the specimen to standing."

The surface beneath her moved as machinery clanked. Gravity pulled at her. She would have fallen if the bands around her hadn't held her up.

He slid a hand down her stomach to her core, running his finger through her folds and pushing a finger inside her.

"No production of lubrication."

Was torturing her nipples meant to be foreplay? She snorted.

His fingers moved to her clit, working the bud from side to side. Pressing harder, he made the friction of his touch deeper and more acute.

Her body went rigid as he assaulted her with unwanted pleasure. He moved his fingers and pushed two inside her. "Lubrication is appropriate to stimulus." The Doctor reached to the side of the table and turned a crank, spreading her legs wider. Fingers entered her again, this time to explore. He noted every twitch and slight reaction. Opening another drawer under the table, he rummaged around.

Lora fixed her eyes on the ceiling, watching the clouds darken from grey to black. Her jaw ached and her nipples stung. Her heart rate ratcheted up as he pressed what must be more electrodes inside her. She sent her magic out, but even with his fingers insider her, the Doctor wasn't feeling lust. Only curiosity. Igor felt shame. Maybe she could use that. But how? Her magic couldn't get in, and she was gagged.

Turning her head, she tried to implore Igor to help her with her eyes.

"Start with maximum pain."

She closed her eyes and willed herself to endure.

"Master?" Igor's hesitant voice held a quaver.

"As I thought." The Doctor rose and strode across the room. "You have interfered with this specimen enough for today, Igor."

"But, Master —"

The Doctor's arm moved in a blur. Igor was screaming and thrashing before Lora saw the stunner. This setting must have been much higher. Multiple forks of lightning struck Igor. Blood streamed from his nose and his eyes rolled back in his head. The hunchback went down, but the doctor still held the stunner to his body. He was going to kill Igor!

Lora screamed through her gag. No one deserved that kind of treatment. Except maybe those who inflicted it on others so they could see how it felt. The skin on her wrists and ankles tore as she tried to wrench herself free of the bindings holding her to the table.

Thunder cracked overhead. The storm was starting.

The Doctor left Igor in a heap and plugged the stunner into a slot on the wall, next to others she hadn't noticed. He turned to the machinery and pushed buttons. The sensors he'd placed inside her pulsed. She bit down on the rubber mouthpiece as her body bowed off the table. The pulses continued, sending unsought pleasure through her, building her body up to the brink of orgasm.

The sensations stopped. Her body crashed back to the table.